Return to Youth
by Sherph518
Summary: A trip meant to resolve the rivalry between Thomas and Alexander goes badly wrong when they are de-aged into babies along with James, Lafayette, John, and Hercules. George struggles with the sudden responsibility of being a father and Aaron questions why the universe seems to hate him. Some swearing, slight Lams and Jeffmads references, all only in the first chapter
1. Three Cameras Are Better Than One

"Today's activity: a scavenger hunt," George announced, walking back and forth in front of the cluster of his employees. An audible groan rose from the group.

"With all due respect," John began, "do you really think having us look for pinecones and shit would do anything to help us?"

The group was in upstate New York on a trip in an attempt to encourage them to get along better, especially since Alexander and Thomas's rivalry was starting to get out of hand. Unfortunately, the team-building exercises George had planned had not helped thus far.

"John, I assure you the hunt involves more than looking for, using your words, pinecones and shit," George said, not without some amusement. "Rather than looking for objects, you and your group will be attempting to complete a set of tasks. The team that completes the most with picture or video evidence wins."

Alexander perked up a bit at this. "I get Laf," he announced immediately. "He has that phone with three cameras; it was made for this."

"Putain oui." Lafayette high-fived his friend. "iPhone 11 Pro, let's do this!"

Thomas rolled his eyes. "I've got the same phone, Hamilton. Not discriminating, are we? Though I wouldn't be surprised if you were."

Alexander glared daggers at him, but Thomas only smirked back. This infuriated Alexander even more. He made his way over to Thomas and glared up at him.

"You know what, Jefferson?"

"What, Hamilton?"

"You–"

George stepped between the two men. "I've already chosen the teams," he told them, interrupting their argument before it could get out of hand. "And I don't want to hear any complaining."

"But, sir–"

"No, son." George ignored Alexander's grumbling at the term of endearment and took a breath, hoping he would not regret his decision. He probably would. "Team One: Alexander, Aaron, Lafayette–"

"Yes!" Alexander cried, pumping his fist in the air. George gave him a halfhearted look of exasperation. "Sorry, go on."

"–and Thomas."

There was an immediate shout of protest. Aaron let out a sigh. Yes, he understood that George would want someone on the team to keep the peace between Alexander and Thomas, but no, he was not looking forward to it. Still, he didn't complain, which was more than could be said about others in the group.

"Sir, I cannot work with that _thing_!" Alexander was saying to George. "You can't expect me to, you know he hates me!"

"That 'thing' is your co-worker. You'd have to work with him anyway. You two need to work out your differences, and from what I've seen, the hatred goes both ways."

"Yes, sir, but–"

"Enough, Alexander. You cannot switch teams." George ran a hand over his face wearily. Thomas didn't say anything, but he, too, looked less than happy about the team arrangements.

"Team Two," George continued. "James, Hercules and John."

Thomas spoke up. "If I may, sir?" George nodded, and Thomas continued. "James had the flu last week, and I'd like to keep an eye on him. Maybe if I switched–"

"No." George cut him off. "I know what you're doing. I've already told you, you can't switch teams."

"Technically, you told Hamilton," Thomas muttered, though he was careful to say it quietly enough that only James could hear him. James let out a small snort of amusement.

"Actually, maybe that's a good idea," Alexander broke in.

John gasped. "Are you _agreeing_ with Jefferson?" He held the back of his hand up to Alexander's forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

Alexander playfully slapped John's hand away, leading to an impromptu play fight between the two men.

"Get to the point, Alexander," George sighed.

Alexander and John snuck in a few more slaps before they stopped. "As I was saying," Alexander continued, as though nothing had happened. "Maybe Jefferson should switch with John, then–"

"Hey!" Hercules called out, feigning an offended expression.

"Or Hercules," Alexander amended, and Hercules nodded with satisfaction. Alexander turned to face Thomas before speaking again. "Then he can make sure _Jemmy's_ alright. After all, we don't want him getting sick and _dying_ on us," he spat mockingly.

Thomas flushed with anger. He stalked over, glared down at Alexander, who smirked up at him the same way Thomas had just a few minutes before, and opened his mouth to say what would have undoubtedly escalated their argument further. But before he could, George shoved them apart.

"Alexander, that is _enough_! James is your co-worker, too, and I will not have you talking about him like that!" Sure enough, James was scowling at Alexander from his place beside Thomas.

"Well, you see, I wouldn't," Alexander explained patiently, "but it's the only thing that really gets to Jefferson.

Thomas, who was still breathing hard from unspent anger and glaring at Alexander, flipped him off. George didn't notice and continued to scold the two. "You both need to stop this behavior!"

Alexander interrupted him. "Sir–"

"What now?"

"Jefferson just flipped me off."

George threw his hands in the air. "I can't deal with this right now."

Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he was really not looking forward to this.

"If everyone's ready, get into your groups and we'll start the scavenger hunt," George announced, attempting to regain control of the situation.

"I'm not ready," Alexander muttered.

Lafayette looked bemused. "But we didn't even say goodbye!"

"This is only going to take a few hours!" George exclaimed. "I hardly think you need to say goodbye."

"Yes, but this is going to be the last time we see Alexander and Thomas alive. They might appreciate some words of encouragement before they expire," Lafayette said seriously.

"Fine," George sighed, too exasperated to argue. "One minute for goodbyes."

As everyone else gathered with their friends, Aaron made his way over to George.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" he asked hesitantly.

"No," George responded. Aaron was surprised by the honest answer. "But I'm counting on you to keep them from fighting too much."

_There it is_, Aaron thought sardonically. Aloud, he replied, "I'll do my best, sir." By way of making conversation, he added, "What will you be doing?"

"Getting a drink."

"I'll join you after."

"Come on, you _can't_ leave me with him. He hates me!" Alexander protested.

Lafayette glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Well, if he didn't before, he does now. T'es foutu, petit lion."

"Thanks, Laf," Alexander deadpanned. Turning back to John and Hercules, he desperately asked, "Can't one of you say that your name's really Alexander and switch places with me? I _can't_ spend a few hours around him, I'll go insane."

"You already are," John laughed. Alexander tugged on his ponytail, and he yelped. "I mean," John amended hastily, "I would, Alexander, but… I don't think we should test Washington's patience any more right now."

Hercules raised his eyebrows. "Since when do you think things through like that?"

"I happen to respect the guy, I don't want him to get _too_ fed up with me," John defended himself.

Lafayette let out a cough that sounded a lot like "Charles Lee".

"That was different! I was defending the Machine!" John objected.

"He was still mad," Alexander snickered.

"He was madder at you!" John playfully shoved Alexander, who purposely stumbled back an unrealistic distance.

"You claim to respect Washington, yet you call still him the Washing Machine. Please enlighten me, how does this 'respect' work? Alexander teased, bouncing eagerly on his toes.

John pushed him again, though he couldn't help smiling. Alexander reached out to shove him back, but John hopped to the side, out of reach. When Alexander made to lunge at John, Lafayette decided to change the subject and end their second play fight of the day.

He swung his arm around Alexander's shoulders, effectively keeping him in place. "You two are going down in this hunt!"

Hercules and John exchanged glances. "Doubt," Hercules said.

John nodded his agreement. "You won't be able to get anything done with Alex and Jeff on the same team."

Alexander groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Don't listen to what he says, Thomas. He's just trying to make you angry." James spoke softly to calm down his friend.

Thomas looked down. "I know. It just… hits a little too close to home sometimes."

"Thomas. Look at me." Thomas did, and James continued. "Don't let him get to you."

Thomas gave a small smile. "I'll try." He paused. "I really do worry about you, you know."

James's smile echoed Thomas's. "I know."

"You'll be careful? You won't overexert yourself?"

"I'll be fine. Don't go picking fights with Hamilton. I'd like you back in one piece."

"Are you saying he'd beat me? I'll have you know–"

"I know. But if he comes back in multiple pieces, you know what Washington would do to you?"

"...Fair enough. I'll try, Jemmy. I really will try."

"Minute's up!" George called out. "Get with your groups!" Team Two formed quickly enough, but Alexander took his time in joining Team One. Aaron sent a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening.

"Here are the tasks," George said, handing a piece of paper to both Lafayette and Hercules. "Meet back here in three hours. Time starts now."

Neither team moved immediately, but stood whispering, trying to decide which task to complete first. John pointed to something on the paper, and Hercules and James nodded, presumably in agreement. Team Two went off one way, leaving George and Team One behind.

No one in Team One was willing to start another argument in front of George, so when Aaron pointed to a task, none of them complained. They walked off in a different direction than the one Team Two had gone in.

When they were far enough away, Alexander stated, "We're using Lafayette's phone." He looked over at Thomas as though daring him to argue.

_For Jemmy_. Thomas looked away, and Alexander smirked triumphantly. Aaron sighed in relief.

"I hope you were volunteering for the karaoke, Burr. You suggested it," Alexander said brightly, walking beside him.

Aaron shook his head. "I figured you and Lafayette would do that. Seems like something you would do."

"Aww," Alexander whined, sounding a bit disappointed. He recovered quickly. "Sure, we can do that. You record though, we don't want Jefferson touching the phone.

_For Jemmy_. Thomas scowled, but bit his tongue.

"Alexander," Lafayette warned.

Aaron got a nasty feeling in his stomach.

"I'm just saying, because with all the time he spends with _Jemmy_–"

Thomas squeezed his hand into a fist.

"–he's probably carrying around lots of germs. I'm just looking out for my friend, I don't want Laf to get ebola because Jeffershit touched his phone."

Thomas closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He could do this. He could–

No.

_I tried, Jemmy Jems,_ he thought. But Thomas also knew James wouldn't fault him for fighting back; he wasn't terribly fond of Hamilton either.

Lafayette saw the dangerous look in Thomas's eyes. He stepped forward to block Thomas from getting to Alexander. "If you need to, go into the forest," he whispered.

Thomas knew Lafayette was right. But he also knew that if he ran off, Alexander would never let him live it down. He let Lafayette hold him in place and settled for glaring at the back of Alexander's head.

Alexander turned around and feigned immense surprise that Thomas wasn't fighting back. Aaron grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him back around to face the front.

"Come on, Burr, you're no fun," Alexander complained, nudging Aaron good-naturedly with his shoulder.

Thomas managed to regain control, and the group set off once again. Alexander dropped back a bit, and Thomas sped up to walk past him.

"Fuck you," Thomas muttered as he passed Alexander.

"Really?" Alexander asked. He stopped.

_Shit_. He wasn't supposed to hear that.

Alexander looked back at where Team Two had disappeared. "Funny, I thought that you would rather do that with Jemmy, but–"

Thomas punched him. Right in the face. What else could he do? He knew very well he couldn't follow Lafayette's advice and run off into the forest, not right after Alexander said… that.

Alexander staggered backward, and Aaron rubbed his temples. He stepped between the two men.

"All right, that's enough–"

Thomas shoved him to the side. "Stay out of this," he growled. He wasn't done. He turned back to Alexander. "That's like saying you and John. You're really close, does that mean you want to fuck him?" Alexander began to stammer as a bright blush crept up on his face. Thomas ignored this. "Even if you did, he would never want you! You, a broke orphan, when he could have anything and anyone he wants!"

"Don't talk about him like that," Alexander's voice was low and deadly.

Thomas pretended not to hear him. "You're nothing but some broke orphan who tried to hard to be noticed by everyone. News flash! No one cares. As soon as you die, you'll be forgotten. Your mother was probably glad to be rid of you when she died."

"Leave my mother out of this!" Alexander yelled furiously.

Thomas hummed. "No, I don't think I will." He turned around and started walking. "That's enough chit-chat. Let's do the scavenger hunt."

Alexander threw himself after Thomas, only to be caught by Aaron and Lafayette.

"Leave it," Lafayette advised.

Alexander struggled harder. "He insulted my mother!" he hissed. "I can't just _leave it_!"

"You weren't exactly being that nice either," Aaron told him somewhat hesitantly, still restraining him. "You two need to stop fighting all the time."

"I'll stop when he stops," Alexander huffed.

"He didn't say anything to you! _You're_ the one who started this!" Aaron realized he was close to yelling and took a deep breath to calm down. "We may have had a relatively calm three hours, but thanks to you, there's no chance of that happening now."

At this point, there was a noticeable red bruise forming on Alexander's face, and Aaron winced to think about how George would react.

"Okay, let's do the karaoke now," Lafayette called out to the group, obviously trying to distract Alexander and Thomas from their argument. He pulled out his phone and handed it to Aaron, shooting an apologetic look at Thomas. Thomas crossed his arms and looked away.

Aaron took the paper from Lafayette. "It says you have to sing a duet, bonus points for a live audience."

Lafayette noticed Alexander glaring at Thomas, so he elbowed the former. "Alexander, you with us?"

"Yeah," He turned his back towards Thomas. "There's no one else here, how could we have a live audience?"

Lafayette hummed thoughtfully. "What if we make an audience? It'll show that we'd be working together more, and it could result in extra points."

"Not a bad idea," Aaron admitted. "Since you two will be in the video, Thomas and I can make the audience."

Thomas sniffed. "How do we do that?"

Alexander snorted. "That's for you to figure out."

"They're part of our group." Lafayette reminded Alexander, giving him a look. "We can help them with ideas." He looked around. "Maybe something like snowmen, but with mud?"

Aaron grimaced. "That's going to get messy. And that might be hard to do." He paused, thinking. "What if we did that, but we cover pinecones in mud and stick them together to make mini-snowmen things?"

"Not bad," Lafayette grinned. "And here I was thinking you had no imagination."

Aaron chose to ignore this comment and handed Lafayette's phone back to its owner. "Well, come on, then," he said to Thomas, and they began to build a muddy army of pinecone people.

Lafayette turned to Alexander. "Know any duets?"

Alexander thought for a moment. "What if we write one?"

"Can we do that in time?" Lafayette asked doubtfully.

Alexander grinned. "You forget who you're talking to."

By the time Aaron and Thomas had built what they deemed to be a respectably sized audience, Alexander and Lafayette had composed a decent duet. Lafayette went to give Aaron his phone, then reeled back in disgust.

"Burr!" he exclaimed. "Wipe your hands off!"

Aaron sighed and did as he was asked before holding his hands once more to be inspected. When Lafayette decided his hands were clean enough, he took the phone and when Alexander and Lafayette had gotten into their places, he pressed the record button, making sure to get the audience in the video.

Alexander started off with the first verse.

_This is a song_

_That we just wrote_

_And don't get me wrong_

_These are original quotes_

Lafayette sang the next verse.

_We tried really hard_

_And we managed to do it_

_We sound like bards_

_With our kick-ass duet_

They sang in harmony for the last verse.

_You never said how long this has to be_

_We don't have any more to say_

_Two more lines and then we're free_

_Now listen to us play_

Alexander and Lafayette began improvising on the air guitar, screaming our random notes and rhythms. Aaron winced, but Thomas couldn't help letting out a small chuckle. The song was so _stupid_. _Not surprising, considering Hamilton wrote it,_ he thought.

When they finished, Alexander and Lafayette bowed and Aaron ended the video, The two performers burst out laughing.

"That was amazing," Alexander gasped between fits of laughter. Aaron shook his head with an expression that looked as though he had already resigned himself to their insanity.

"If by amazing you mean the worst song ever written, then yeah," Thomas muttered loudly.

Aaron cleared his throat and glanced down at the list. "All right," he said, his voice containing a hint of warning directed at Alexander and Thomas. "Let's do…" He looked at Lafayette, bewildered. "Does the other group have the same list?"

Lafayette shrugged and made his way over to look at the paper. "No idea."

"There's a task that says we have to trick the other team into getting into one of our videos," Aaron paraphrased, frowning. "If they had this, too, then wouldn't they be expecting it?"

Lafayette scrunched his face up in thought. "They probably have something different," he concluded after a moment. "Let's do it."

"Yes!" Alexander's eyes flashed. "Maybe Thomas could fake an injury?"

Thomas scowled. Normally, he wouldn't object, he would probably even _enjoy_ it, but he was not about to let Alexander tell him what to do. "Why don't you do it?" he snapped.

A wide grin spread across Lafayette's face. "Oui!" Alexander, you pretend you broke your back or something, I'll call John, and Camera-Man can record!"

"So I'm Camera-Man now," Aaron stated rather than asked.

"Yes." Alexander waved him off, his enthusiasm matching Lafayette's. There were clearly both eager to trick their friends. "We'll say I was climbing a tree, then I fell and broke my back."

Lafayette thought for a moment. "It might be better to have you pretend to be unconscious. Easier to do and describe." Alexander looked slightly disappointed but agreed nonetheless. "Burr, can I borrow your phone?"

"Wouldn't it look suspicious if you don't use your own?" Aaron asked. Truth be told, he wasn't keen on showing Lafayette and Thomas his iPhone 5. Even though Alexander still had a 4, he knew the owners of the 11 Pro would tease him mercilessly. And Alexander probably would as well.

"But the three cameras!" Alexander whined.

"Thomas's has three cameras," Lafayette pointed out. "He can record, then send it to me, and it'll be like it was recorded on mine."

"Fine," Alexander grumbled. "But give it to Camera-Man," he added to Thomas, though he didn't look at him.

Thomas opened his mouth to make a snarky comment, but Aaron mumbled, "Don't." and he closed it again. He handed his phone to Aaron, who gave Lafayette's back to its owner.

Lafayette grinned at Alexander. "Get in position," he ordered before calling John and putting the phone on speaker. Alexander obediently crumpled into a heap at the base of a tree, and Lafayette raised a finger to his lips, reminding everyone to be silent as they waited for John to pick up. Aaron raised Thomas's phone and pressed the 'record' button.

"Hello?"

"John! Mon ami, c'est affreux! Il a besoin d'aide–" Lafayette began frantically. Thomas had to give him credit, he truly seemed anxious.

"Woah, slow down, Laf," John interrupted with more than a trace of concern. "What happened?"

"Alexander was climbing a tree, a branch broke, and he slipped. I think he hit his head, he won't wake up, we've tried everything!"

"What?!" There was clear panic in John's voice now. "Where are you?"

"Just inside the forest, near where we were yesterday–"

"I'm coming, hang on." John hung up, and Lafayette cackled as he put his phone away.

"Now we wait," he announced.

"You said he hit his head?" Aaron asked after a minute. "Is there something hard near his head?"

Lafayette picked up a rock and put it down beside Alexander's head. "There is now."

Thomas got an idea. "You said we tried everything to wake him up. That would include pouring water on him, wouldn't it?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Aaron warned.

"That is a good point," Lafayette said thoughtfully at the same time.

Alexander lifted his head. "Don't you dare–"

Lafayette pushed his head back down. "Shh, you're supposed to be dying. Thomas, do the honors?"

"With pleasure." Thomas opened his water bottle and went over to where Alexander lay in an unnatural position. It gave him some satisfaction to know that he couldn't possibly be comfortable, and his satisfaction only grew at the thought that the water would only increase this discomfort. He poured some of the liquid on his head without bothering to bend over, allowing some of the water to splash back up. The only motion Alexander made was to raise a middle finger, his hand barely off the ground. The corner of Thomas's lips quirked upwards in a smirk.

Just then, John, Hercules, and James burst through the trees. They were all so focused on Alexander, they didn't notice Aaron holding up the phone to record.

"Shit, Alex, come on," John whispered to Alexander in anguish. He moved Alexander's limbs into a more comfortable position and knelt down beside him. "Wake up."

James looked over at Thomas, and Thomas shook his head. James nodded and turned his attention back to Alexander.

John was now cradling Alexander's head in his lap. He looked close to tears. "How long has he been like this?" he asked Lafayette.

Lafayette pretended to check the time. "Maybe… ten minutes?" he lied.

"Shit," John swore again. He began stroking Alexander's face, eyebrows knitted together with worry.

All of a sudden, Alexander opened his eyes, shot upwards and shouted, "Rah!"

The three members of Team Two jerked backward, startled by the sudden movement. Lafayette and Alexander openly laughed at their friends' faces, and even Thomas and Aaron had to chuckle.

"God, Alexander, don't do that again!" John exclaimed, discreetly wiping at his eyes.

Hercules noticed Aaron with the phone and grinned. "You got a video?"

Aaron ended the recording. "Technically, Thomas does."

John stood up, brushed himself off, and walked as menacingly as he could over to Aaron. "Delete it," he commanded.

"Can't do that," Aaron told him.

"Burr. Delete that video, or I swear–"

Lafayette broke in. "We need it for the hunt."

John looked over at him disbelievingly. "No. No way. You are not using that."

Aaron used John's moment of distraction to give Thomas his phone back. Thomas tapped on the screen a few times, then locked the phone and put it away. "I sent it," he said, looking up at Lafayette.

John threw his hands up in the air. "Fine," he said to no one in particular, trying to act as though he didn't care. He fooled no one.

"So, none of that was true?" Hercules asked the people in Team One. "It was all a trick?"

"Yup," Alexander responded, jumping to his feet. "Did you like it?"

"No," John muttered, still sour over the video.

"I'm going to have to agree with Laurens," Hercules admitted. "Faking an injury probably wasn't the best trick you could have come up with."

"It was funny," Lafayette defended.

John made a small noise of disagreement but didn't say anything.

"Hang on." Hercules stepped closer to Alexander and inspected his face. "If the tree story was made up, how'd that happen?" He pointed to the bruise.

"Ah." Lafayette hesitated to explain. Alexander, however, simply pointed at a finger at Thomas.

James shot him a halfhearted look of disappointment that still made Thomas's insides squirm with guilt. "I thought you said you wouldn't pick fights with him."

Thomas crossed his arms. "I said I would _try_. And he started it."

John pretended to take a closer look at Thomas. "Funny, I don't see any bruises on you."

Thomas sighed. "He said some things, I punched him," he explained vaguely.

James shook his head with a small smile. "No more than I expected."

"What sort of things?" John asked, looking between the two men. Clearly he wanted to know what had set Thomas off.

Aaron took a breath, ready to intervene. He didn't want another argument to start.

Alexander waved him off, much to everyone's surprise. "The usual," he said, not meeting John's eyes. If anyone noticed the faint blush that rose to both Alexander and Thomas's cheeks, they didn't say anything.

Relieved, Aaron turned and took a few paces away from the group. So far, there hadn't been any more arguments. If he could keep this up, the scavenger hunt might prove to be slightly enjoyable after all.

The large group dissolved into smaller conversations, though they all stayed relatively close together, with the exception of Aaron. John drew closer to Alexander.

"You gotta get Jefferson back," he whispered. "Can't let him have the last laugh."

Alexander made a face. "He poured water on me," he remembered disdainfully. He wiped his face on his shirt.

"Exactly," John encouraged. "He can't do that and get away with it, can he?"

"Of course not." Alexander looked down and noticed a sleek, strange-looking box. He bent over and picked it up. "What d'you think this is?"

John took it from him and frowned. "It looks expensive. Maybe some kind of device?"

"Hmm." Alexander took the object back.

Aaron turned back to the group just in time to see the events play out.

"Jefferson!" Alexander called out. He threw the box.

Thomas looked up just in time to see the box flying towards him before it collided with the side of his head. There was a bright flash of light, and a bubble seemed to spread out from the box, enclosing everyone except for Aaron, who was too far away. In an instant, the light and bubble were gone, and the whole group fell to the ground.

Aaron's eyes widened, and he rushed over to where the men fell. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, confused and shocked.

Rather than six men lying on the ground, in their place were six babies.


	2. Why?

Aaron blinked several times, wondering if he would find himself waking up from some sort of strange dream. He didn't. Several questions ran through his head, the most prominent being _how? _and _why me?_

He groaned as he pulled out his phone to call George. It took a few rings, but his boss finally picked up.

"Have Thomas and Alexander killed each other already?" George's voice sounded exasperated.

"Not quite." Aaron bit his lip, wondering how to explain the situation. He decided it would be easier to believe by seeing. "We might need some help, though."

"What happened?" Though the exhaustion was still there, Aaron could hear concern lacing the words.

"Uh… It might be better to see for yourself, sir," Aaron told him, cringing at how vague he sounded. "We're near the spot we were in yesterday, just inside the forest. I'll send you a picture," he added as an afterthought.

"Okay," George sounded unsure if he wanted to get involved, but Aaron was just relieved that he didn't have to deal with this alone. "I'll see you in a few minutes." He hung up, and Aaron lowered his phone from his ear.

The babies were starting to wake up as Aaron snapped a few pictures with a camera quality that would have made Alexander cringe. It was clear who was who; they looked very similar to their older selves and their clothes had managed to shrink to their new sizes, a fact for which Aaron was immensely grateful. He sent the pictures to George and took a closer look at the babies. They all looked small, especially James. And there were six of them. Even with George's help, they would be hard to handle. Aaron let out a long sigh.

At this point, Alexander had managed to sit up and was looking around with wide eyes. John, who was still next to him, seemed fascinated by Alexander's small ponytail and reached out toward it with a tiny hand.

Thomas had crawled right up to James, who was trying (and failing) to push himself off the ground. He eventually gave up and settled for rolling onto his back, and Thomas lay down next to him, babbling incoherently.

_So they seem to remember each other_, Aaron mused, storing the piece of information in the back of his mind. Something bright caught his eye, and Aaron found himself looking down at the device that had caused all this to happen, laying on the ground and glistening in the sunlight. He cautiously walked over to it and gently nudged it with his foot. When nothing happened, he bent over and picked it up cautiously.

"What happened?" Aaron jumped, startled by George's bewildered voice.

Aaron turned to face his boss and held out the device. "Alexander threw this at Thomas," he explained. George took it from him and turned it over carefully in his hands. "There was a flash of light, then they got…" he trailed off and gestured at the babies around them.

George nodded slowly, looking around at his de-aged employees. His gaze stopped at Lafayette, who was staring back at him, never breaking eye contact. Unsettled, George turned back to Aaron.

"Why didn't it affect you?" George asked, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched.

"I walked a bit away from them," Aaron admitted. "I think I was too far away."

"Hmm." George's eyes swept back over the children, purposely skipping over Lafayette. "We can't keep them here," he said, almost to himself. Turning back to Aaron, he asked, "Do you know anyone who lives nearby?"

Aaron thought for a moment. "Actually, I think so. You know Philip Schuyler?"

"I know of him, yes."

"His three daughters have a house near here, maybe about ten minutes away," Aaron told him. "I don't know if they'll be there, but unless you know anyone around here, we don't have any better options. And, if I remember correctly, the oldest studied some sort of science in college. She might be able to help reverse what happened."

George sighed. "I guess we'll take them there, then. Like you said, we don't have any better options. Lucky we all drove up in my car; we would not be able to deal with all theirs."

"I don't know if I would call that lucky, sir," Aaron disagreed. "Remember the drive here?"

"Don't remind me," George said, eyeing Aaron. "Come on, let's get them into the car." He walked over to where John and Alexander sat playing with each other's ponytails and picked them up, one in each arm. Alexander began to squirm.

"Would you stay still?" George hissed, trying to hold onto both babies at once.

"No," Alexander said loudly, putting a hand into his mouth.

Aaron groaned. _Great,_ he thought. _He still talks_. He went over to where James and Thomas lay in the dirt and scooped them. He silently followed George to the car, deep in thought.

"Maybe one of us should stay with them, sir," Aaron suggested to George as Alexander and John were deposited in the second row of the car. "Even as children, I don't think leaving Alexander and Thomas alone together is a good idea."

"Put them in the third row," George instructed, referring to James and Thomas, who were still in Aaron's arms. Aaron did so, and George continued. "Stay here with them, I'll go back for the other two."

Aaron watched him leave, then turned his attention back to the babies in the car. John was content to lie on his back in a starfish position, making noises and giggling to himself. Alexander, however, found it interesting to stand up on his seat and look around the car. Aaron didn't think much of this, until he remembered Thomas and James would be visible if Alexander decided to turn around.

Unfortunately, he realized this about the same time it happened. Alexander began to scream, startling the other three. John sat up briefly before deciding that it wasn't that unusual and he would rather go back to making noises. Only this time, they were much louder so they could be heard over Alexander.

Thomas began to babble angrily at Alexander, who was still screaming and looking over the back of his seat at him and James. James looked distressed at the noise and began to cry, which did nothing to help the situation.

Aaron winced and tried to gently pull Alexander into a sitting position and face away from the third row, but Alexander pushed him away with more force than Aaron would have expected from his now–small body. He then tried to pick up James to calm him down, but Thomas glared at him with such _intensity_ that he decided it wasn't worth it.

For the second time since the Incident, Aaron found himself asking _why me_?

George came back with Lafayette and Hercules in him arms. He looked from the car to Aaron with a questioning look of disappointment.

Aaron sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot. "I tried, sir. But Alexander discovered that Thomas still exists, and he didn't take it that well."

"I see," George responded with a hint of a smile on his face. He set Hercules down, who promptly took three steps and fell flat on his face. He wasn't deterred, though, and he stood up and made to take another few steps. Aaron grabbed his hand before he could and was rewarded with a pout from Hercules.

George handed Lafayette to Aaron before moving to calm Alexander and James down. Aaron looked down at the young frenchman in his arms and immediately regretted it. Lafayette stared unblinkingly back at him with wide eyes and one hand entirely enclosed in his mouth. Aaron found that he couldn't look away from the intense stare, so he continued to look the child in the eye, growing more uncomfortable with every passing second. Without warning, Lafayette took the hand out of his mouth and pressed both palms against the front of Aaron's face, as if to block him out. Aaron let out a long exhale and resigned himself to the fact that he would have to put up with this behavior until they could figure out how to get his six co-workers back to normal. He couldn't see due to the tiny fingers spread over his eyes, but he could hear Lafayette's little squeals of delight. At least he wasn't screaming.

Unlike someone.

George had taken Alexander out of the car, which had seemed to alarm John. Now he was faced with the difficult task of keeping him within John's line of sight, preventing him from seeing Thomas, and calming him down all at once. He tried giving him a little bounce, but that did not seem to work, so he settled for holding him against his chest and gently rubbing his back. At first, he regretted taking up the position due to the short distance between Alexander and his ears, but he was persistent, and a few painful moments later, the screams were reduced to small whimpers, then silence.

Setting Alexander back in the car, George wondered how to keep him from discovering Thomas's existence once again. He needn't have worried; a moment later, John draped himself across Alexander's lap and showed him a few of what seemed to be his favorite noises. Soon they were contentedly making absurd noises at each other, and George had to smile fondly at the adorable scene before turning to James. He picked him up, ignoring Thomas's death glare and babbled protests. Where bouncing had not worked for Alexander, George soon discovered that the opposite was true for James. That combined with a few soothing words murmured into his ear, James was fairly easy to calm down.

Thomas was happy to have James back, and with all the babies calmed down, George turned back to Aaron and had to stifle a laugh. Hercules was trying to pull away, even though it was obvious that if Aaron were to let go of his hand, he would fall to the ground. Lafayette was still covering Aaron's face and giggling. Not wanting to disturb the bonding that was clearly happening between Aaron and Lafayette (really, he didn't want to be in Aaron's position), George scooped Hercules up and plopped him in the car next to the pile that was John and Alexander.

"Put Lafayette in the back with Thomas and James," George instructed. "He gets along with them, and four in the second row would be too crowded."

Aaron held Lafayette out at arm's length to get to the small hands off his face. Lafayette narrowed his eyes at him, and Aaron quickly looked away and obeyed his boss.

With all the babies in the car, George turned to Aaron. "You know the address, I'm assuming?"

Aaron nodded, wiping his face on his sleeve in disgust. "I'll put in in the car. You know, Lafayette had his hand in his mouth before putting it on my face."

To Aaron's frustration, George only chuckled. "Watch out for that one," he warned. He slid into the driver's seat, leaving Aaron to walk around the car to get to the passenger side.

While Aaron put in the address, George glanced back at the innocent-looking babies. "Hopefully they behave while we're driving."

Alexander looked up and met his eyes. "No."

He was right.

About three minutes into the journey, Thomas decided to stand up on his seat in the back. George nearly had a heart attack when he glanced up at the rear view mirror and saw a small head blocking the back windshield.

"Thomas is standing up," he Aaron, looking for a parking lot to pull into.

"Great," Aaron muttered, turning around and trying to motion for Thomas to sit down. Thomas giggled and waved back at him. Aaron resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands.

When they were finally able to stop, George got out of the car and reached into the back row.

"Thomas," George scolded, picking him up and sitting him down, "you need to stay seated when you're in the car."

Thomas found he could make an enjoyable game out of standing up every time George sat him down.

Meanwhile, Alexander's curiosity was proving to be a difficulty. He kept trying to stand up to see what was going on behind him, and Aaron had to keep pushing him down. After a few repetitions of this, Alexander was on the verge of tears from not getting what he wanted. Panicking, Aaron picked up John and placed him across Alexander's lap in the position they had been in earlier. This cheered Alexander up and effectively kept him sitting down, so Aaron counted it as a double victory.

James fell asleep sometime during Thomas's game, and George discovered that he could keep Thomas in place by leaning James against him.

"Stay," George commanded, pointing a finger at Thomas.

Thomas glared back. George and Aaron got back into the car, and they drove off.

Seven minutes left.

Two minutes later, they heard a _thunk_. Aaron whipped his head around so fast he hurt his neck. Wincing and rubbing the back of his neck, he noted that Alexander and John were in the same position, but Hercules was nowhere to be seen.

"I think Hercules fell off the seat," he reported. George let out a long sigh and looked for a place to pull over once again.

When they stopped, Aaron got out of the car and found Hercules lying beneath the passenger seat. He pulled him out and placed him back on his seat. There wasn't much else he could do to prevent it from happening again. At least he didn't seem injured.

That stop was much shorter than the previous one, and both adults were thankful.

Five minutes left.

Four minutes later, Aaron felt something brush against his arm. He looked to his left to see John crawling on the center console. Not even bothering to mention this to George, who he suspected was deliberately ignoring the situation, Aaron picked John up and decided to hold onto him for the remaining minute of the ride. John was obviously not expecting this, and Alexander began to protest as soon as John disappeared from his line of sight. He, too, crawled across the central console, leaving Aaron no choice but to hold onto him, too.

Was George smirking? Aaron couldn't tell.

Hercules was not about to be left alone, but he decided he was above crawling. He put a foot on the central console and took a few wobbly steps before Aaron noticed him. In a flash of panic, he twisted around and grabbed Hercules before he could fall onto George.

George was definitely smirking now.

By the time they pulled up to the Schuyler's, Aaron, still holding the three babies, was hating his life.

"I've got these three, sir," Aaron told George as they got out of the car. "Could you get the others?"

"Drop the 'sir'," George requested as he took Lafayette, Thomas, and a now-awake James out of the back. "We're going to be looking after them for a while, no need for formalities while we do so."

"Okay." They walked up the the door, each holding three babies. With their hands full, they couldn't knock, so Aaron let John press the doorbell. He held the button down way too long.

They stood at the door for an uncomfortable amount of time, waiting for an answer. Hercules began squirming first, then Alexander, then John. Aaron struggled to hold onto all of them and wondered why they hadn't put those three in the third row.

Lafayette saw his friends in Aaron's arms and reached his arms out toward them, making small whimpering noises.

"Sorry, he's got his hands full," George told him, bouncing him lightly. "You can't join them yet. It won't be long, though."

The door finally opened to reveal a young woman in a gray hoodie and yellow sweatpants. She stared at the babies.

Aaron stepped forward. "Peggy, is Angelica here?"

"My _god_, Burr, are all these yours?" she asked, bewildered.

Aaron sighed. "_No_," he said firmly. "Can we come in?"

Peggy held a hand up. "Hold on. Who's this?" She pointed to George.

"That's my _boss_, George Washington," Aaron hissed. Peggy didn't take the hint, or rather, she ignored it.

"Peggy Schuyler," she introduced herself and held out a hand. George shook it and she continued. "So, how did Burr manage to impregnate six different women and how did you get involved in this?"

"Peggy, please," Aaron groaned. George chuckled, and Peggy gestured to him.

"See, he knows you're a joke. You wanted Angelica? Come on in." She stood back to let them into the house, then closed the door behind them, then yelled into the house. "Yo, Angie! Burr wants you!"

"Why?" a voice yelled back.

"I think he wants to add to his collection of babies."

Aaron only gave Peggy a look. Of the three sisters, why did she have to be the one to open the door? "It's an emergency," he called out to Angelica.

"Yeah, he's really horny," Peggy added. Aaron groaned.

"You'd better be joking Peggy, for his sake," came the disembodied voice of Angelica. They heard a sigh, and moments later, another young woman joined them in front of the doorway.

Angelica noticed George right away. "Who're you?" she asked.

"George Washington, Burr's boss," George introduced, extending a hand. Angelica shook it firmly then turned to Aaron.

"Sit down and explain what's going on," she demanded. "And I swear, if Peggy wasn't making things up, you will regret it." Peggy smirked and raised an eyebrow at Aaron, who simply let out a long sigh. "Peggy–" Peggy's head whipped around to face Angelica and smiled sweetly. "Before we start, can you get Eliza?"

Peggy only turned her head, presumably in the direction Eliza was in, and yelled, " 'Liza! Angelica wants you!" She looked up at Angelica with a smug look.

Angelica rolled her eyes fondly at her younger sister, then led them over to the living room to sit down.

"What's going on?" Eliza asked as she arrived. She pushed Peggy's legs off the loveseat the latter had flopped down on and sat in their place. Her eyes widened as she noticed the six babies who were now sitting (or standing) on the other couch next to Aaron and George, but she didn't say anything.

"We were just trying to figure that out," Angelica responded. Turning back to Aaron, she added, "Care to explain?"

Aaron took a deep breath before starting. This would be an interesting story to tell, to say the least.

By the time he had finished, Alexander was pacing back and forth across the length of the couch, muttering mostly nonsense to himself. John had used Aaron's head to pull himself into a standing position and was giggling at Peggy, who was making faces at him. Lafayette had crawled next to George and was content to sit by his side. James was waving his arms around in large circles, and Thomas was glaring at Alexander. Hercules was very unhappy at the fact that he was being held hostage by George, but the man had seen no other option, since Hercules had repeatedly tried to walk off the edge of the couch.

Angelica and Eliza exchanged troubled glances. "Do you still have the device?" Angelica asked. Aaron nodded and pulled it out of his pocket, where he had stored it earlier.

Eliza frowned at it. "If it really did this to them, maybe there's a way for it to undo what happened." She looked up. "But it's risky. We could end up in the same situation as them," she said, gesturing to the babies.

"I know," Aaron agreed, wincing as John pushed down on his head. "That's part of the reason I came here, actually. I remembered that Angelica studied some kind of science in college," he said, looking up at the woman in question. "I was hoping you'd be able to help figure it out."

Angelica gave him a weird look. "That was political science, I don't think it would help in this situation." Peggy let out a laugh as Aaron flushed.

George took pity on the other man and came to his rescue. "Well, we didn't know anyone else who lived nearby, and you might know others who could help us."

"Actually, I think I might know someone," Peggy interjected thoughtfully. Then, with more confidence, she repeated, "Yep. I know someone." She pulled her phone out of the pocket on her hoodie and began tapping. A few moments later, she put it back in the pocket. "She'll help you."

"Okay," Aaron said, still grateful for the save from his moment of embarrassment. He handed the device over to her, only slightly wondering if it was a smart idea. "Do we get a name?"

The device joined Peggy's phone in her pocket. "Just call her 'the Helpful Friend'," she said, not without a hint of a smirk. "And they stay here until they get back to normal," she added, pointing to the babies. Lafayette pointed back with a wide smile, exposing his few teeth in the front of his mouth.

"We don't want to impose," George protested somewhat half-heartedly. He was hoping they would insist, he did _not_ want to have to drive them back to New York City as children. At least they would stay seated as adults.

"Please," Angelica scoffed. "You need somewhere to stay near here until the Helpful Friend fixes the device. We need something interesting to do. Anyways, Eliza used to babysit young children, she probably knows what to do." Eliza nodded, and Aaron had a thought.

"Do you know how old they are?" he questioned. Eliza stood up and walked over to the couch the babies were on. Lafayette squealed and lifted his arms up towards her, so she picked him him, smiling.

After a few minutes of Eliza inspecting Lafayette and Lafayette staring deep into Eliza's soul, Eliza had an answer. "He seems to be around eleven months old," she told the others as she held Lafayette against her hip. Peggy held out her arms, not unlike the way Lafayette had before, and Eliza handed him to her before picking up a protesting Hercules.

"I take it he's a bit of a troublemaker?" Eliza asked as she looked over Hercules. Aaron nodded, thinking back over the events since the Incident. "Have you been making life hard for Burr?" Eliza cooed at the baby in her arms. Hercules only continued to squirm. "I'll take that as a yes," she laughed to herself. To the group, she added, "He looks about thirteen months." She gave him back to George and picked up James next.

Thomas watched James carefully the whole time, but James seemed happy enough. He gurgled in Eliza's arms and waved his tiny hands in the air until Eliza finally announced that he was seven months old. He was promptly returned to the couch where he cuddled up next to Thomas.

Peggy climbed off her loveseat and knelt in front of them. She pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of the two before moving back to her original position. Angelica gave her a funny look.

"What?" she defended herself. "They're adorable. And when they get back to normal, they're gonna _love_ my pictures"

Aaron wasn't so sure about that, but he kept his mouth shut.

While this was happening, Eliza had determined that John was close to ten months. Now she was holding Alexander, who was playing with her hair. "I think he's seventeen months," she said, gently pulling her hair out of his fist and setting him on the ground. He sat down in the center of the room.

Eliza picked up Thomas next, who let out a squawk of protest at being moved from James's side. He glared at her until she reported that he was close to fifteen months and placed him back down. James leaned his head against Thomas's poofy hair, and Thomas's expression visibly softened. Peggy not-so-discreetly snapped another picture.

"If they're going to be staying here, they're going to need supplies," Angelica reminded them. Peggy jumped up, causing Lafayette to let out a startled sound.

"Eliza and I can go, then stop at the Helpful Friend's place," she suggested.

"You're going to have to tell me who she is to do that," Eliza said, raising an eyebrow.

Peggy shrugged. "I don't care if you know. It's _Burr_ who can't know." She made a face at Aaron. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Do you want to go now?" Eliza asked Peggy.

"Yes!" the youngest sister responded immediately. "Lemme get changed first." She set Lafayette down on the couch and dashed upstairs.

While they were waiting, John managed to carefully climb down the couch, crawl across the room, and pull himself into a standing position in front of Lafayette. The two babies babbled happily at each other.

Peggy rushed down the stairs, now wearing a yellow blouse and short jeans with a pair of sunglasses resting on the top of her head. "Can we _please_ take a few of the babies?" she begged Eliza.

"I don't know." Eliza turned to Aaron and George. "Can we?"

The two men exchanged a glance. "I don't know if that's a good idea," Aaron began. "James would probably be the best behaved, but I doubt you would be able to bring him without Thomas."

George broke in. "Lafayette's been pretty well behaved, he might be a good choice." Lafayette looked up at the sound of his name.

Peggy cheered and picked the baby up. She spun around, holding him out in front of her, and he squealed excitedly. John made a noise of indignation.

Eliza noticed this and picked him up. "Should we bring you too?" she asked him. John waved his arms around and made a gurgling noise.

"Alexander and John seem to have attachment issues," Aaron told her. "It might not be the best idea to separate them."

"It won't be for long," Peggy argued, bopping John on the nose. John laughed so hard he fell against Eliza and reached out to grab Peggy's nose.

"Okay," George agreed somewhat reluctantly, hoping he would not have to deal with a screaming Alexander again. "Just go as fast as you can."

"We'll be back before you know we're gone," Eliza assured him. Peggy waved at Angelica, Aaron, George and the four remaining babies, and Lafayette copied her, though his waving was much clumsier. Eliza grabbed a bag, and the two younger Schuyler sisters left the house with John and Lafayette.

Alexander watched them go, and once the door closed, he let out a small whimper. Then, looking around, he noticed Thomas and James sitting peacefully on the couch.

Aaron sighed, wondering for what felt like the millionth time why the universe seemed to hate him so much.


	3. Don't Eat That Croissant

"So who is this Helpful Friend?" Eliza questioned, looking at Peggy through the rear-view mirror.

Peggy, who was sitting in the seat behind Eliza's and holding both John and Lafayette in her arms, leaned forward and whispered something into her sister's ear.

Eliza let out a small laugh and shook her head. "Burr's going to hate you."

"I know." Peggy smirked. Lafayette began to protest from his position pinned between Peggy and the driver's seat, and Peggy swiftly leaned back in her seat, murmuring apologies into his ear.

"So we'll drive over to her house and stop at the store on the way back?" Eliza asked to confirm.

"Yup." Peggy made a funny face at the babies now sitting on her legs and was rewarded with tiny peals of laughter.

After a few minutes, John grew restless. He began to wriggle and wave his arms up and down, and Peggy was the unintentional victim of more than a few kicks.

Setting Lafayette down on the middle seat, Peggy held John close. "Hey, little guy," she crooned. "You feeling ok?"

Eliza heard what was going on. "Everything alright back there?" she asked her sister.

"Yeah," Peggy responded. "John's just a bit fussy, that's all. I'm holding him close to me, but it doesn't seem to be working." Sure enough, another one of John's kicks landed solidly on her arm, and Peggy winced.

"Hmm," Eliza thought for a moment. "There's not much we can do in the car with no supplies, but sometimes a change of scenery helps. You can't leave the car right now, but maybe try holding him up to the window?"

Peggy did as her sister suggested, and John's legs drooped down so he could stand up on Peggy's leg. His hands pressed against the glass of the window, and he watched, fascinated as the world zoomed by. In just a few moments, John was completely settled down.

Lafayette reached out and grabbed the hem of Peggy's shirt, unhappy at the lack of attention. Peggy removed one hand from John so that she was supporting him with an arm snaking around his small body and took hold of Lafayette in the other.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget about you," she told him, giving him a little squeeze. Lafayette snuggled closer to her side. They remained like that for the rest of the ride, John looking out the window, Lafayette sitting on Peggy's lap, Peggy holding onto both of them. If Peggy's legs ever started to hurt, she never mentioned it.

Eliza glanced back at her sister through the rear view mirror with a fond smile on her face. Peggy noticed Eliza watching her and flashed a quick grin before turning her attention back to the babies in her arms.

As the car pulled into the driveway of a house, Peggy got out of the car and set John and Lafayette down on the seat. "I'll be back in a minute," she told them, gently giving each of them a small tug on their ponytails. John fell backwards in a starfish position as soon as she left.

Eliza turned around in her seat and smiled at the babies in the back seat. "Having fun back there?" she asked Lafayette, who was staring her down. Seeing that his stare did not not cause her any discomfort, Lafayette gave it up and cooed happily instead.

Peggy slid back into the car and scooped John up. She held him in one arm and pulled Lafayette close to her with the other. "Store now?" she asked Eliza.

"Store now," Eliza confirmed, backing the car out of the driveway.

Back at the Schuyler house, George was trying not to let Alexander get near Thomas and James.

He had set Hercules down on the ground in order to be more successful in this. Hercules was very happy to have been freed and was now stuck in a cycle of taking a few steps and falling over. It seemed to amuse him, and he wasn't getting hurt or causing trouble, so George let him be. Aaron was in the kitchen with Angelica, discussing the details of their stay.

Alexander kicked and squirmed in George's arms, babbling loudly with a few real words mixed in, the most notable ones being 'no' and 'bye-bye'. Thomas glared at him from his spot next to James.

Just then, Aaron came back into the living room. George, still struggling to hold onto Alexander, looked up at him questioningly.

"We need to talk about the company," Aaron reminded him. George sighed. He didn't want to think about it, but he knew it had to be done.

"Let's talk, then," he reluctantly responded. The two men sat down in the dining room for a little privacy. Aaron knew Angelica, but George didn't, and even though she seemed like a good person, he didn't want to her to hear all about his life just yet. Alexander made small pouting noises to himself.

Once they were comfortably sitting down, George continued. "I only prepared for two weeks off for the trip. Now with these… complications, we're going to need to extend that. I don't know how long it'll be before the device is fixed, but we're the only ones left who can work. It's going to be hard, especially with the current situation. But we have to try."

Aaron nodded. "I agree. I brought my laptop with me. Maybe the Schuylers can watch the others when we need to work? I'm sure they won't mind."

"Bye-bye," Alexander said softly, suddenly giving up his noises. George and Aaron ignored him.

George hummed. "I'm sure they wouldn't, but I hate to ask. We already owe them a lot for helping us and letting us stay here. But watching the others and working at the same time would be very difficult," he added in defeat. "I guess we'll have to ask them."

"That's settled, then." Aaron paused for a moment. "Does it seem quiet to you?"

George looked down at where Alexander should have been, only to find that he had managed to escape sometime during their conversation. They heard a loud screech from somewhere else in the house. "Oh no," he muttered. He rushed back into the living room, Aaron close behind him.

In the living room, it was a _lot_ less quiet.

Thomas and Alexander were in the middle of a heated, unintelligible argument, and they both looked _very_ angry. Hercules was sitting still for once, watching the debate unfold and cheering Alexander on. James looked disturbed by the noise and, more likely than not, Alexander's presence. George moved to pick Alexander up before the situation could escalate, but he was just a few moments too late. Alexander swung a small fist back and smashed it against Thomas's side. James let out a scream and began to wail.

Aaron sighed. "We need to separate them," he told George. Gesturing toward Thomas and James, he continued. "I've got these two." He sat down on the couch beside them.

George picked up Alexander and Hercules, then walked away from Aaron and the other two babies. Angelica rushed into the room, and upon seeing what George and Aaron were trying to do, she hurried to help.

"Take them into a different room," she advised. "We have a guest room, follow me." George gratefully allowed Angelica to lead him into the next room.

"What do we need to get?" Peggy asked Eliza, holding Lafayette against her hip.

Eliza shifted John in her arms before answering. "They'll need clothes, diapers, food supplies, entertainment–"

"So, basically, a lot of things," Peggy interrupted.

Eliza laughed and echoed her sister. "Yeah. A lot of things."

Lafayette reached up and grabbed Peggy's sunglasses on the top of her head. She stopped walking to take them off and place them on Lafayette's much too small face. Lafayette giggled.

"Can you do a peace sign?" Peggy asked him, showing him with her fingers. Lafayette was able to make a sign that looked vaguely like the one she showed him, and Peggy pulled out her phone and snapped a selfie with him. Eliza, who hadn't noticed that Peggy had stopped, was now walking ahead, and Peggy rushed to catch up.

Eliza had gotten a shopping cart and put John in the seat in the front. Peggy placed Lafayette next to him and gently took her sunglasses back. Lafayette didn't seem to mind; he simply looked around the store with wide eyes as John made incoherent noises at him.

"Let's go this way," Eliza suggested, pointing down an aisle with bags of diapers on a shelf. They turned into the aisle, and Peggy grabbed a few bags and tossed them in the cart.

The aisle turned out to be entirely filled with baby supplies. Eliza put some diaper rash cream and some wipes in the cart before moving past the diaper section.

John grunted with effort as he struggled to turn around in his seat to see what was being placed behind him. As he was trying to do this, something else caught his eye. He reached out toward one of the shelves, kicking and making desperate noises to get what he wanted.

Peggy noticed John's change in behavior and picked him up. "What is it?" she asked, following his gaze to a shelf filled with stuffed animals. "Oh, I see." She turned to Eliza. "John wants a stuffed animal. Is that okay?"

"That's fine," Eliza smiled briefly at Peggy and John before turning back to some baby wash and lotion.

Peggy carried John over to the shelf of stuffed animals. "Choose one," she told John. John reached out and immediately grabbed a turtle that was about half his size. He hugged it tightly and cooed happily up at Peggy.

Peggy laughed. "Okay." She put him back in the shopping cart and picked up Lafayette. "You can have one, too," she told him, bringing him over to the shelf. After a minute of digging, Lafayette came across a stuffed croissant and put it in his mouth. Peggy cringed and pulled it back out. "Don't do that," she told him. "It's dirty." Lafayette pouted and threw the croissant back at the shelf. He looked as though he was about to cry, and Peggy quickly gave it back to him. "You can have it, just don't put it in your mouth until it's washed," she said, tapping the underside of his chin. Lafayette ignored her and tried to eat the croissant once again. Sighing in defeat, Peggy placed him back in the cart next to John where they contentedly played with their new toys.

Eliza put baby wash, lotion, sippy cups, bottles, and formula into the cart. Catching a glimpse of John and Lafayette, she smiled and turned to Peggy.

"We should get one for each of them," she suggested.

Peggy's eyes lit up. "Yes!" She picked John back up. "Can you help us choose one for Alexander?"

John's face lit up at the familiar name and he rapidly began to babble at Peggy.

Eliza held up a stuffed lion. "What about this one?" she asked him. John grabbed it and looked up at her with wide eyes.

Peggy laughed. "I guess that's a yes."

For Hercules, they ended up choosing a elephant. Eliza wasn't completely sure why, but Peggy seemed to strongly believe that he should get a elephant, so she didn't argue.

Eliza held up a brown bear. "I'm thinking we should go for a classic teddy bear for James," she proposed.

"Yes. I _completely_ agree." Peggy took the bear and tossed it into the cart.

That only left Thomas, and both sisters were stumped. There wasn't one that they just _knew_ he would like, like there were for the others.

Finally, Peggy held up a light magenta rabbit. "Maybe this one?" she asked.

Eliza thought for a moment, then nodded. "The color is similar to the shirt he was wearing. He might like it." The rabbit went in the cart.

"Can they eat regular food?" Peggy asked as Eliza turned to look at jars of baby food.

"They can have a little, depending on their age," Eliza explained. "The younger ones still need mostly formula, but the older ones will be eating more solid food." She placed a few jars in the shopping cart and tugged the croissant back out of Lafayette's mouth. He made a sound of protest and waited until she had turned away, then put it back in.

"Let's get two high chairs," Eliza suggested. "They can share them, and getting six just seems excessive."

Peggy looked at the boxes of high chairs in bewilderment. "How are we going to fit these in the cart?"

Eliza sighed. "Believe me, the Pack 'n Plays will be worse."

She was right. The plan was to use Pack 'n Plays instead of cribs, since the babies would hopefully not be babies for very long, and they were cheaper to get six of. But how they managed to fit two high chairs, six Pack 'n Plays, and all the other supplies was a mystery even to the two sisters.

After they finished that struggle, they moved on to the clothes rack. That was simple enough, and they chose a few onesies and separate clothes for each of them. Socks and bibs were next ("No, Peggy, we are _not_ getting white bibs." "But they look so clean!" "They won't after one use."), followed by pajama onesies.

"Maybe we should get some sweaters," Peggy offered. "In case they get cold."

Eliza agreed it was a good idea, and they chose one sweater for each of them.

Something caught Peggy's eye and she gasped.

"What is it?" Eliza asked.

"Look at these." Peggy excitedly pointed to a few small towels with hoods. "_Hooded towels_. We need these."

Eliza let out a small laugh at her sister's eagerness. "We can get some."

"Yes!" Peggy cried, startling a few people around them. She grabbed a few off a shelf beside the clothes rack. After putting them in the shopping cart, she held up some double baby slings. "Imagine Burr with one of these," she told Eliza, raising an eyebrow.

Eliza shook her head with a smile, trying to hide her amusement. "Put them in the cart." Peggy did, and Eliza found a baby monitor and nightlight, which she also added to the cart.

"Let's get some more toys for them," Eliza suggested. She pushed the cart over to a section full of baby toys. Lafayette noticed the toys immediately and stretched out his arms toward them, croissant dangling from his mouth. John eyed them curiously as he continued to cuddle his turtle.

Peggy held up some colorful stacking rings. "How about this?"

Eliza looked them over. "That seems fine." She dug through the toys and found a walker. "What about this, for Hercules?"

Peggy grinned. "Yes! He would love that." Both items were added to the cart.

Lafayette was not happy that he couldn't reach the toys. He let out a small whine, and Eliza was by his side in a flash.

"You want to choose a toy?" she asked, picking him up. Lafayette reached out toward the toys again, and she brought him closer. "All right, but you have to share it with everyone else."

After knocking over a few toys, Lafayette finally grabbed hold of a music set containing various toy instruments.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Eliza began carefully.

"Of course it is," Peggy interrupted, waving a bag of Mega Bloks. "D'you think they're old enough to use these?"

Eliza considered Peggy's question. "They should at least enjoy knocking towers over if they're not able to build." Peggy took Lafayette from Eliza and together they put their toys in the cart.

"You can't hit Thomas," George explained to Alexander as he sat down. Alexander remained standing in front of him, grunted, and turned as though he was about to leave. George held him in place and grabbed Hercules's hand, effectively putting an end to his escape plan.

"Do you know why?" George asked.

"No," Alexander stated confidently, shaking his head. At this point, George wasn't sure if the baby really understood the question or if he just liked the word.

"Thomas is your friend, and you can't hit your friends," George explained patiently. Alexander gave him a disbelieving look. Maybe he did understand. "Okay, he's not exactly your friend, but he is someone you need to learn to get along with."

Alexander grumbled and sat down on George's leg. Hercules continued to tug on George's hand in an effort to get him to let go. It didn't work.

George held Alexander against his chest. "I know. But you _do_ need to stop fighting Thomas all the time."

"James, please stop crying," Aaron requested politely. James ignored him.

James had crawled into Thomas's lap and was sobbing while the latter held him. Aaron cleared his throat awkwardly. He was _not_ good at this. That wouldn't stop him from trying.

"May I?" he asked Thomas. The baby gave him a small glare, then looked away. Aaron took that as a 'yes', carefully picked up James, and began to bounce him gently as he wailed into shirt.

"Shh, it's okay," Aaron whispered into his ear. "He's alright. Thomas is fine, see?" He pointed to Thomas, who was still sitting on the couch and watching James and Aaron intently. "He's okay. He didn't get hurt."

Slowly, James began to calm down. Aaron sat down and watched as Thomas crawled into his lap and petted James's head like he was a cat. James sniffled and snuggled closer to Thomas. Aaron couldn't help smiling as he looked down at the two babies.

Maybe he wasn't so bad at this after all.

A few minutes later, the door swung open, and Peggy and Eliza came inside, carrying John, Lafayette, and a few bags.

"Aww," Peggy cooed as she saw Aaron holding Thomas and James. "Look at that, Burr has a heart."

"Shut up, Peggy," Aaron told her, rolling his eyes and failing to keep a smile off his face.

"Where are the others?" Eliza asked, looking around.

"They had a fight," Aaron explained. "We decided to separate them."

"So Angelica showed them to a different room," Peggy finished. She set the bags down, then walked further into the house and yelled, "Marco!"

A faint "Polo!" came as a response from somewhere else. Peggy followed the voice and called out again.

After a few repetitions of this, Peggy yelled from another room, "Found her!" Then, "They're in the guest room!"

Eliza set Lafayette down next to Aaron and picked up the bags Peggy had dropped. "I'm going to get everything organized," she told Peggy when she came back. "You can visit them in the guest room if you want." She headed off toward the kitchen, and Peggy carried John and his turtle on her shoulders into the guest bedroom.

Peggy flung the door open, startling the three occupants. Upon seeing John, Alexander's face lit up and he toddled over to Peggy. John squealed with delight as Peggy put him down. He held the turtle out to Alexander to show it off.

"We have one for you, too," Peggy said, looking between Alexander and Hercules. Hercules let out a cheer and pulled harder on George's hand. George, not expecting the sudden movement, accidentally let go, and Hercules fell to the ground. He pushed himself back up, only for George to scoop him into his arms. Peggy picked Alexander and John up, one in each arm, and took them to the kitchen, followed closely by George with a protesting Hercules.

In the kitchen, Eliza and Angelica were sorting through the baby supplies. They looked up when Peggy came in with George, Alexander, John, and Hercules. Peggy set Alexander and John down on the counter before looking through a bag. George, not wanting to be too intrusive, continued to hold Hercules and stood awkwardly to the side.

"We need the stuffed animals," Peggy explained, moving the the next bag.

"Here." Angelica reached into a different bag and tossed them one at a time to Peggy. The first one bounced off her head, and she picked it up off the floor after catching the others.

"Thanks." She set the animals down on the counter across from the babies, held the lion behind her back, then turned back toward Alexander. "Look what we got you!" she cooet at him. "Ta-da!" She pulled the lion out and handed it to Alexander, who immediately grasped it and buried his face in it with a huge grin.

Next, she took the elephant out of the pile and waved it in front of Hercules. "Guess who this one's for," she sing-songed as Hercules reached out for it. "You!" She let Hercules snatch it out of her hands and watched as he waved it around happily.

Peggy picked up the rabbit and bear. "Be back in a minute!" she called, dashing toward the living room.

"Get the children off the counter!" Angelica called after her. Peggy waved her off.

Once she reached the living room, she noticed a slight problem. Thomas was trying to take Lafayette's croissant, and Lafayette was _not_ sharing. Hopefully he'd like his rabbit.

"Hey!" she called, getting the attention of all three babies. "I got something for you guys." She held the bear out to James, and she instantly knew it was a success. James took the bear and snuggled it against his face with a content expression.

Thomas was watching him with a small smile, and Peggy held the rabbit out to him before he could get distracted by the croissant again. Thomas took it with a strange expression on his face and put it down next to him. Peggy's heart plummeted, but she brushed it off and winked at Aaron. He rolled his eyes, and Peggy turned away, but not before noticing Thomas carefully patting the rabbit out of the corner of her eye. She smiled to herself and headed back to the kitchen.

"I'm back!" she announced, scooping Alexander and John off of the counter.

Eliza held up a bag of diapers. "We're going to need to use these," she reminded them.

"I can change them," George offered, immediately regretting it. He didn't want the Schuylers to feel uncomfortable having to do that job, but he realized he didn't particularly want to do it either. "Aaron can help me." There. That was better.

"Here you go, then." Angelica took the diapers from Eliza and tossed them to George, who caught them in the hand that was not occupied by Hercules. "You can use the guest room again, they'll probably sleep in there, too."

"Thank you." George took Hercules back into the guest bedroom and set out on this new task.

Hercules would not lay still.

After a few minutes of wrestling, George managed to get the diaper on him. One down, five to go.

George decided it was safe to let Hercules loose in the living room, where he picked up James for a diaper. He was much better behaved than Hercules, and George was grateful.

Thomas was almost as bad as Hercules, but George finally got him to lay still by handing him the rabbit.

Lafayette wasn't too much of a problem, except that he invented a game where he kept trying to kick George. And he had the audacity to laugh when he landed a hit, too.

He took Lafayette with him as he went back in the kitchen for Alexander, and by the time his diaper was on, George wanted to just be done. He had spent at least the past twenty minutes changing diapers. Luckily there was only one left.

John lay still the whole time, entertaining himself by making noises. He seemed to like doing that.

George brought John back into the kitchen, taking great comfort in the fact that Aaron would have to change the diapers next.

"You know," Angelica said to him. "They won't sort out their issues when they're apart. If you want them to stop fighting, they'll have to be together."

"I know," George sighed, putting John down between Alexander and Lafayette. "I'm not looking forward to it, though."

Eliza thought for a moment. "Maybe if we bring out the toys, they'll learn to play together?" she offered.

"I don't know what they'll do. They were unpredictable as adults, it's probably going to be worse now. It might be worth a try, though." George watched John blow a raspberry, and the three babies dissolved into giggles. "Let's do it."


	4. Aaron Plays With Children

"No, Alexander, _put that down_." Aaron's command attracted Alexander's attention, and he felt hope flare up in his chest.

"No," Alexander stated, looking Aaron directly in the eye as he threw another Mega Blok at Thomas. Luckily, none of them had hit the other child. Yet.

Aaron sighed and turned back to the tower he was building. _Why_ he was stuck with this task, he didn't know. Peggy claimed it was to show the babies how to use the blocks and so they could knock the tower down, but he was certain she had taken a picture of him and had an ulterior motive. It seemed like a job she would enjoy more than he did, but no, she was just sitting on the couch with her sisters, watching the chaos unfold.

Chaos it was. Hercules had figured out how to use his push walker and discovered that leaning forward allowed him to go faster. So now they had a running baby to look after. That was George's job. Aaron reminded himself to ask the Schuylers to get some baby gates.

He felt a sudden pressure on his back and twisted to see John trying to crawl onto his head. John let out a laugh at being caught and tried to hoist himself up once again. Aaron picked him up and put him down next to his turtle a few feet away.

Aaron reached for another block for the tower and felt a smaller hand on it. Looking up, he made eye contact with Alexander.

"Don't–" he called out, but Alexander had already yanked the block out of Aaron's grasp and threw it at Thomas. Thomas, who was curled protectively around James, stuck out his tongue at Alexander, which only aggravated him more. He reached for another block, and Aaron made the quick decision that the tower was tall enough to be knocked over.

"Here." Aaron gestured to the tower desperately. "You can knock this down." Aaron held his breath as Alexander studied the tower and experimentally tossed a block at it. Unfortunately for Aaron, Alexander's aim was still terrible, and the block hit the side of his head. As Alexander reached for another block, Aaron took his hand.

"Stop throwing blocks," he told him. Alexander pouted, then walked straight into the tower, effectively demolishing it in a moment. He looked Aaron in the eye, then picked up a block from the demolished tower and flung it at Thomas. This block landed only a few inches away from the intended target, and Aaron decided it might be time to move on from the blocks.

Hercules ran past, pushing his walker at an incredible speed and screeching excitedly. He headed for a doorway that led into a different room, and George slipped in front of it just in time to stop him. Hercules crashed into him, then turned the walker in a different direction and started over. George followed, out of breath.

_Yep,_ Aaron thought. _We need baby gates_.

He felt the pressure return to his head, stronger this time. Turning around carefully, Aaron saw Alexander standing beside him, grinning unabashedly. The pressure was still there, and a small hand slipped down on his forehead.

Suppressing a sigh, Aaron removed John from his head and placed him on the ground next to Alexander. He caught the Schuylers watching him and looked over at them desperately.

Peggy waved from her seat on the edge of the couch. "You're doing great," she called to him.

"You could help," Aaron countered.

"Nah." She leaned on the back of the couch between her sisters.

"You seem to have it under control," Angelica observed as Alexander threw another block at Thomas, this time landing a direct hit.

Aaron groaned. He picked up a furious Thomas and tried in vain to get him to calm down while Alexander smirked up at him.

Eliza took pity on Aaron and got up from the couch to help him.

"Thank you," Aaron whispered as he handed Thomas to her.

"You might want to change games," Eliza advised.

"I was about to," Aaron muttered. Spotting the music set lying untouched on the ground, he picked it up. Lafayette noticed what he was doing and squirmed from where he was sitting.

"He's older than John, right?" Peggy asked. "Why doesn't he crawl or stand?"

"Babies develop at different rates," Angelica reminded her. "And I bet he can crawl, but he just wants everything handed to him." Louder, she addressed Aaron. "Don't give it to him. Let him come to you."

Sure enough, after a few moments, Lafayette realized he wouldn't get the music set, and he reluctantly began to crawl to Aaron, grumbling the whole way.

"It puts him in a bad mood," Peggy observed.

"He'll get used to it," Angelica waved it off.

Eliza had managed to calm Thomas down, and she placed him back in his place beside James, who was now chewing on a bright yellow stacking ring. A loud crash rang through the room, drawing everyone's attention to Hercules once again.

He had apparently pushed the walker so fast he couldn't keep up with it and faceplanted on the floor. He stood up slowly and began running once again, wailing loudly the whole time.

"Oh, god," George muttered as he followed close behind him.

Lafayette pulled a maraca out of the music set and began to clumsily shake his arm up and down. Fascinated by the sound it made, John crawled over and took the other one.

Aaron was starting to get a headache from all the noise.

Alexander wobbled over and looked curiously at the drum. Aaron groaned and began to pull it away.

"No!" Alexander cried out, reaching out toward it. His bottom lip began to tremble, and Aaron quickly gave the drum back to him. He happily grabbed the drumsticks in his fists and began to hit the drum much harder than necessary.

_He still has the same sense of rhythm_, Aaron noted, wincing as he thought back to when Alexander and Lafayette had played the air guitar.

Hercules's wail got particularly loud, and Eliza stood up. "I'm going to make food for them," she announced as she began to walk towards the kitchen.

"I'd better help." Angelica began to follow her sister. "There's a lot more people than usual."

"Sorry," George apologized as he rushed past to prevent Hercules from going into the bathroom.

"No, you're fine," Peggy called in his general direction. "We don't mind."

James turned his head toward the "music" with interest. He slowly began crawling towards Lafayette, John, and Alexander. Lafayette got bored with his maraca and set it down, moving onto a xylophone. James picked the abandoned maraca and began to shake it carefully.

Alexander eyed James, then turned his attention back to the drum. Aaron breathed a sigh of relief, then, catching sight of Thomas, he realized he had relaxed too soon.

Thomas was glancing between Alexander and the drum. Babbling aggressively, he crawled toward Alexander and reached to take a drumstick from him. Alexander barely spared him a glance before throwing a drumstick and hitting him right in the forehead. Thomas let out a screech, picked up the drumstick, and began to hit Alexander with it. Alexander grabbed the drumstick and tried to pull it back, but Thomas would not relent.

Aaron, who was trying to decide how to intervene without making one of the children even more distressed, sent Peggy a desperate look. Peggy rolled her eyes good-naturedly and got up from the couch.

"C'mere," she whispered to Thomas, scooping him up. Thomas protested and waved his arms toward the drum, but Peggy only rubbed his back.

"I know," she soothed, bringing him back to the couch. "You can have a turn later." She sat down and set Thomas on her lap, making sure he was fully facing her and unable to see Alexander.

Thomas began to rant angrily, and it was hard for Peggy to keep a smile off her face. It was awfully cute, though she knew any outward signs of that fact would only aggravate him further. Instead, she settled for gently running her hands through his hair. Thomas let out a startled noise and stiffened, but he soon began to relax into her touch. His gestures slowly became less aggressive, as did his tone of voice, and soon he was making soft sounds of content.

"That's it," Peggy encouraged as she brought his hair into a ponytail. She paused. Something about that seemed familiar. A giggle from John got her attention, and she looked over to see Lafayette gently poking his side with the xylophone mallets.

So that's what was familiar.

"Angie! 'Liza! Do you have a hair tie?" Peggy called out, startling Thomas.

"Check my bathroom," Angelica called back.

"I don't wanna get up," Peggy whined. Sighing, she pulled out her own hair tie and used it to tie Thomas's hair in a ponytail. Thomas began to shift, and she picked him up and held him against her hip.

"Look," she said to Aaron, picking up Lafayette in her other arm. "Don't they look similar?"

Aaron squinted first at Lafayette, then at Thomas. "No?" he said hesitantly. "Other than the hair, I mean."

"How do you not see it?" Peggy jerked her head in an attempt to get her hair away from her face. It didn't work. "Eliza! Come here," she yelled, setting a squirming Lafayette down on the ground. "I need you to tell me Burr's wrong."

"Burr's definitely wrong, whatever it is," Angelica said from the kitchen as Eliza made her way back to the living room.

"Thanks, Angelica," Aaron deadpanned.

"There's more where that came from," she responded cheerily.

Eliza entered the room, looking quizzically at Peggy. "What's going on?"

Peggy pointed between Lafayette and Thomas. "Tell me they look similar."

Before Eliza could answer, Hercules ran between them and fell on his face once again. He didn't bother to get up this time; he just wailed into the ground right where he fell. George picked him up and held him against his chest.

Eliza watched Hercules sympathetically. "He's probably tired and hungry. He's been running around for a while now."

"Eliza!" Peggy tried to get her sister's attention impatiently.

Turning back to Lafayette and Thomas, Eliza inspected each carefully. "I guess… they _do_ look a little similar," she concluded.

"What do you mean _a little_?" Peggy exclaimed indignantly. "They're practically identical! Does anyone else see this, or am I going crazy?"

"You're going crazy," came Angelica's voice from the kitchen.

"You know what, Angie? Fu–"

"Children," Eliza reminded her.

"Frick you," Peggy amended.

Aaron choked back a laugh as Eliza gave Peggy a look. "They're foul-mouthed as adults, you think that's going to change anything?"

Eliza shifted the Look to Aaron. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have that become Alexander's new favorite word."

Alexander looked up at the sound of his name. "Fick?" he asked.

Eliza smacked Peggy's arm. "You see what you've done?"

"It's better than the actual word." Peggy shrugged.

"I mean, that's fair." Turning to Alexander, she gently scolded him: "Don't say that again, okay?"

Alexander stood up. "Fick fick fick fick fick!" he shouted, pushing against Aaron's back and looking up at Eliza with a huge grin.

Aaron groaned. _That's not going away anytime soon._

George looked over at Alexander and shook his head. "No, son. That's not a nice word."

Alexander toddled over and tugged on George's shirt as he looked up at him with wide eyes. "No fick?" he asked innocently.

George nodded. "No fick," he repeated.

Peggy snorted not-so-subtly. Thomas began to wriggle and reached out toward the abandoned drum, which had once again attracted his attention.

"Okay, you can go now," Peggy decided, setting him down while Alexander was distracted. Thomas took a step, then crawled the rest of the way over to the drum. He used the drumsticks to hit it a few times, and James began to shake his maraca more intensely, clearly happy to be playing with his friend.

Upon hearing the noise, Alexander turned back toward the drum and promptly fell down. He crawled angrily to where Thomas was sitting, but then stopped in confusion and looked between Thomas and Lafayette.

"See?" Peggy gestured to Alexander. "He knows what's up."

Thomas glared at Alexander as he continued to play the drum. The hair tie, which was already loose, fell out; and Thomas's hair returned to its usual poofy state.

"FICK!" Alexander screamed, pushing Thomas over. Thomas grabbed hold of Alexander's ponytail and yanked it, only causing Alexander's screams to grow louder.

"That's enough," George said, setting Hercules down and picking Alexander up. Hercules crawled back to his walker and began to run once again. Sighing, Aaron got to his feet and followed him around the house, ready to stop him if he tried to go anywhere he wasn't supposed to.

Alexander grabbed George's shirt in his fists and began talking rapidly. George couldn't make out any words, but it was clear he was distressed, so he began to pace around the room in an attempt to help him relax.

Lafayette watched George walk past him and raised his arms up, holding his croissant in one hand and clearly wanting to be picked up. Shifting Alexander into one arm, George complied, and the two babies cooed contently at each other.

"Hold up," Peggy called, running into the kitchen. "I've got just the thing." She ran back out a moment later, holding the double baby sling. "Put this on." She took Alexander and Lafayette from George while he put it on, then helped him put one in each sling. The sling held both babies in front of George, with one next to each of his arms. Alexander reached out to Lafayette, and Lafayette reached back and grabbed his hands, squealing happily. George looked down at them, smiling, then looked back at Peggy as he heard the click of a photo being taken. She winked at him.

"Can you bring two of them?" Eliza called from the kitchen. "The food's done."

"Go on," Peggy said to George, making shooing motions with her hands. "They need to eat."

"Shouldn't Hercules eat first?" George asked. "He was getting fussy, it's only going to get worse as time goes by."

"Yeah, but Burr's still trying to catch him," Peggy responded, glancing back to where Aaron was keeping a careful eye on Hercules. He looked up at her.

"I could catch him if I wanted to," he protested. "I just think it'll only upset him more."

"Suuure," Peggy drawled, turning back to George. "Really, though, you should take them."

"Okay." George headed into the kitchen, though not before Alexander turned to face Thomas.

"Bye bye, fick," he said loudly, smiling cheekily.

"No fick!" Peggy called out, trying to hide her laughter.

George sighed and where he was greeted by two high chairs set up next to a small table.

Eliza bustled over to him and took Lafayette out of the sling. He tugged gently on her hair as she strapped him in a high chair, and George did the same for Alexander.

Angelica brought the food over. "They may have a preference on whether they want to feed themselves or be fed," she warned.

George nodded slowly as she passed a bowl to him. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned to Alexander, scooped some food into a spoon, and held it out for him to eat.

Alexander slapped his arm away. "No no no," he shouted, his voice gradually increasing in volume.

_Okay. _George took a breath. "Do you want feed yourself?" he asked, putting the spoon back in the bowl and holding it out towards Alexander.

Alexander reached out to hit the bowl away, and George pulled it back just in time. "No!" he repeated firmly.

"You need to eat," George explained softly. "You'll feel better, I promise." Alexander looked at him doubtfully. "Please? Do it for me?"

Alexander continued to look at him but didn't say anything. When George held out another spoonful of food, Alexander hesitated before reluctantly opening his mouth. Watching him eat that first bite felt like a huge victory for George.

Meanwhile, Eliza was trying to get Lafayette to eat. She held out a spoonful of food, and Lafayette dropped his croissant to take it from her as it approached him. He screwed up his face in concentration and carefully put it in his mouth.

Eliza set the bowl where he could reach it, and Lafayette began to clumsily feed himself. Upon seeing his friend eat, Alexander reached out toward his own bowl and grunted. George handed him the bowl, and he too began to feed himself.

Soon both bowls were empty, and Lafayette slowly stretched his arms up towards George. George unbuckled him from the high chair and let him lean against his chest. Lafayette's hand curled into a fist and he gently wrapped his arm around the back of George's neck as he struggled to stay awake. George rubbed Lafayette's back slowly, and soon he was fast asleep in George's arms.

Eliza noticed this and smiled softly. "We can put him in a Pack 'N Play so he doesn't wake up," she whispered. "Follow me."

She led him into the guest room and began to put together one of the Pack 'N Plays. George was about to set Lafayette on a chair so he could help, but Eliza stopped him.

"Don't bother," she told him. "I've got this."

She finished quickly and pushed the Pack 'N Play against the wall. George gently placed Lafayette in the center, and Eliza put his croissant next to him. They watched him for a moment, and Lafayette made a noise in his sleep.

"I've got to help feed the others," Eliza whispered to George. "You can stay if you want, though." She quietly left the room.

George gave himself one minute with the sleeping Lafayette. He looked so peaceful lying on his back, sound asleep as if there wasn't a problem in the world. George found himself thinking back to how both Lafayette's parents had died in his youth. In one of his few moments of seriousness, Lafayette had once mentioned that he was only two when his father died. He had said that he didn't have many memories of his father, and when he had needed a father figure in his life, there was no one.

George smiled sadly to himself. It was about time for that to change.

Alexander was less than happy at being left behind in the kitchen. Angelica had released him after he had began to squirm impatiently, and once he was back in the living room, she and Eliza had taken John and Hercules to eat something. His unhappiness only increased at his friends being taken away.

So what else to do than bother Thomas?

Unfortunately for him, his plan was foiled when Peggy picked him up. "Leave him alone," she advised as she swung him onto her shoulders. "Let's go bother Burr."

Alexander babbled angrily as he repeatedly hit Peggy's head. She took him off her shoulders, frowning.

"What's wrong?" she asked, inspecting him carefully. Alexander made wild gestures with his arms as tears began to form in his eyes.

"Woah, okay, we can fix this. Don't worry," Peggy went into the kitchen, still holding Alexander. "Eliza? Alexander's in a bad mood."

"Fick," Alexander huffed as Peggy passed him to Eliza.

"No fick," Peggy and Angelica countered at the same time. Alexander whipped his head around to glare at Peggy. "Or, you know, fick," she corrected herself, raising her hands in surrender.

John made a happy noise and raised his arms up, excited to see Alexander. Alexander looked over at him, but didn't seem to cheer up very much.

"Maybe he needs a nap?" Eliza suggested. "Lafayette fell asleep almost right after he finished eating, I'm sure he's exhausted."

"No!" Alexander yelled. "No no no no no!"

"He doesn't seem to like that idea," Peggy observed. "Shame, really, sleeping's the best. Wish I could take naps."

"No one's stopping you," Angelica told her as she fed John another bite of food.

"Hey, I don't want to miss something just because I went to sleep for a few hours."

"Shh," Eliza shushed her sisters and began to slowly rock back and forth, holding onto Alexander tightly. The room fell silent except for the soft noises of John and Hercules eating. Slowly but surely, Alexander's eyelids began to droop. His movements became less and less energetic, and after a few minutes, he allowed himself to rest his head against Eliza's shoulder. She stood still for a moment to make sure he would not awaken immediately, then began slowly walking to the guest room.

"Yas queen!" Peggy whisper-yelled after her. Eliza smiled and shook her head fondly.

George passed Eliza on his way out of the guest room. His eyes widened as he realized he had left Alexander alone. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, half to Eliza, half to Alexander, even though he knew the child couldn't hear him.

"It's okay," Eliza reassured him. "He just need some encouragement to sleep. He's fine."

"I left him." George shook his head. He had _left_ Alexander in favor of Lafayette. "That's not okay."

"Hey." Eliza stopped and faced him. "Just because one needs your attention at the moment doesn't mean you don't care for anyone else. You did fine."

George sighed. "You're right," he said, offering Eliza a small smile. "Thanks." He started walking again, but Eliza could tell he hadn't quite forgiven himself yet.

She set Alexander down in another Pack 'N Play, and quietly backed out of the room. By the time she got back to the kitchen, Hercules and John had finished eating and had gone back to the couch.

Aaron had carried James into the kitchen, and was now feeding him out of a bottle. He glanced up briefly as Eliza entered, then turned back to the baby in his arms.

Thomas was being problematic. No matter what Peggy or Angelica offered him, he refused to eat.

"Is there _anything_ you want?" Angelica asked. Thomas only huffed in response. Angelica sighed and took him out of the high chair.

"Tell you what," she said as she walked over to the cabinet. "I'll show you what we have, and you can choose anything, as long as it's soft enough."

While Thomas was digging in the cabinet, they heard a thud. After exchanging a look with her sisters, Peggy stepped out to see what had happened. It appeared that Hercules had started to run with his walker again, and now he was lying facedown on the ground once again. Truth be told, she wasn't surprised. She moved to pick him up and found that he was half asleep. Chuckling to herself, she leaned him over her shoulder and looked up at George, who was sitting on the couch with John curled up beside him.

"I'm going to put him in the room," Peggy half-whispered, half-mouthed to him. George nodded and stood up.

"I'll bring John in, too." Together, they put each child in a separate Pack 'N Play.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Thomas clutched the Kraft Mac 'n Cheese box to his chest and cheered.

Angelica sighed. "I did promise," she reluctantly agreed. "But this is a one-time thing," she told Thomas, pointing a finger at him. "Don't get used to it."

Thomas gave her a look that clearly said he was already used to it.

As Angelica put Thomas down and began making the pasta, James slowly began to stop drinking the formula in his bottle. His eyes had closed a few moments before, and now Aaron was stuck awkwardly holding the sleeping baby.

"Um, Eliza?" Aaron asked. "I think James is asleep."

"Not surprising," Eliza said, coming over to him. "Everyone else is asleep, too, except for Thomas. Put him in the guest room in one of the Pack 'N Plays."

Aaron obediently followed Eliza's instructions, and paused a moment before walking back out of the room. These were his _coworkers_, and yes, it was strange, but he still felt a protective instinct when he was around them. _It's probably a side effect of their newly-acquired youth_, he supposed as he left the room and joined George in the living room.

Back in the kitchen, Peggy was in the midst of a crisis.

"I was saving that box of mac 'n cheese!" she exclaimed to Angelica.

"It was the only thing Thomas wanted," Angelica explained tiredly, stirring the mac 'n cheese in a saucepan.

"But that was the last one!" Peggy sighed and dramatically collapsed in a chair. "You better enjoy it," she jokingly threatened Thomas. Thomas waved happily at her, kicking his legs in anticipation.

"He looks excited," she commented. Angelica poured the mac 'n cheese into a bowl and set it down in front of Thomas. He dug in messily, squealing eagerly between bites.

When he finished, he pushed the bowl away from him, and it was saved from shattering on the ground only by Peggy's fast reflexes.

"Be careful," Peggy scolded gently as she moved to wash the bowl. Shifting her gaze from Peggy to Thomas, Angelica noticed his movements were starting to become more forced. She carefully picked him up and brought him to the guest room.

"See?" she whispered in Thomas's ear, pointing to James. "James is sleeping. You can sleep, too, if you want." Thomas nodded slowly, and Angelica placed him in the last Pack 'N Play. She watched as his movements came to a stop and his eyes slid shut.

Before leaving the room, Angelica plugged in the baby monitor and turned it on. She headed to the living room, where she found Eliza and Peggy were sitting across from Aaron and George.

Angelica joined her sisters on the couch. "Well," she said, looking around the room. "That was unsuccessful."


End file.
